Sunday, November 12, 2006

Another look at that map.

So if you look really close at this map that I put up in the last post, you can see that he drew on it. It's hard to spot because it's in mechanical pencil (he was an engineer, after all).

There's a little arrow on the Victoria Hotel and a line that goes up to the Central Station and then along the tram line, finally ending on Oostenberger Gracht.

A business meeting?

Victoria Hotel Info 3

Victoria Hotel Amsterdam

Here's a nice looking receipt:


I can't for the life of me figure out all the added costs beyond the room on this one. But the Victoria Hotel is still there. Here's what it looks like today:

Here's some more info about the hotel.

Along with the bill I find this delightful Art Nouveau information card:


On the back are the room rates. Looks like Great-Grandpa got the cheapest single room available:

And inside, a spiffy map:




And here is the same area in Google Maps.

Dinner on board

After the ship that Great-Grandpa was meant to have come back from Europe on was removed from the active fleet, he settled on the Oceanic. Amongst the ephemera related to the Oceanic was this piece of heavy stock cardboard.


At first I thought it was a postcard or some sort of souvenir. But closer examination showed that it flipped open, revealing a menu.


It seems that Great-Grandpa's company set him up with enough of a travel advance to go First Class.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Hotel Belgischer Hof


Hmmm. From what I can tell, The Hotel Belgischer Hof ("Belgian Yard") is (or was) in Cologne, and seems to be still operational. Judging from the photos on various travel sites, it has either moved locations or had a massive renovation - very possible as the city saw extensive bombing during the Second World War.

Here you can see my Great-Grandfather's first name (Lloyd) on the receipt, but not his last name. If I'm understanding the receipt correctly, he arrived on May 8th and stayed the ninth and tenth (at four Marks a night) and checked out on the 11th (the date on the inkstamp). The additional 6.4 is for "washing" - perhaps laundry service?